Effects of Annealing Temperature on Microstructure and Electrochemical Properties of Perovskite-type Oxide LaFeO3 as Negative Electrode for Metal Hydride/Nickel(MH/Ni) Batteries

We reported the effects of annealing temperatures on microstructure and electrochemical properties of perovskite-type oxide LaFeO₃ prepared by stearic acid combustion method. X-Ray diffraction(XRD) patterns show that the annealed LaFeO₃ powder has orthorhombic structure. Scanning electron microscopy(SEM) and transmission electron microscopy(TEM) images show the presence of homogeneously dispersed, less aggregated, and small crystals(30-40 nm) at annealing temperatures of 500 and 600℃. However, as the annealing temperature was increased to 700 and 800℃, the crystals began to combine with each other and grew into further larger crystals(90-100 nm). The electrochemical performance of the annealed oxides was measured at 60℃ using chronopotentiometry, poten-tiodynamic polarization, and cyclic voltammetry. As the annealing temperature increased, the discharge capacity and anti-corrosion ability of the oxide electrode first increased and then decreased, reaching the optimum values at 600℃, with a maximum discharge capacity of 563 mA·h/g. The better electrochemical performance of LaFeO₃ annealed at 600℃ could be ascribed to their smaller and more homogeneous crystals.